So My EP is 6 months old, I adhered to the concept of only fetching with a couple special items and only doing 4 or 5 fetch's at time to keep him wanting more. I never played fetch with any of his living room or backyard toys but I did encourage him to pick stuff up and bring it to me and now it is a borderline compulsive behavior to bring me all kinds of different things which is great but with his toys it's plain to see that he wants to play fetch really bad, we can't play with the toys the way we did when he was younger.

My question, whats the danger in letting him fetch his toys at this point? he already loves to fetch frozen birds and his pheasant feather wrapped throw toy, it seems like it would only make his fetch drive stronger, am I wrong?

I bought the Perfect start video and that guy throws his hat for the dog to fetch! that seems to go against the concept of only fetching with certain things and at certain times.

I'm interested to see other people's replies. I don't worry about letting the dog chase a ball or toy and bring it back - but I think it is wise to keep "fetching" (as it refers to a command that means "you have to bring this to me") as a separate thing. I'll go out back and throw a ball for my PP for 20 minutes... sometimes I do it until he gets bored and doesn't bring it back once... then I'll say "go get your ball" and then be done. But even after that, I could put out a dummy and tell him "fetch" and he'd run hard to retrieve it. Also, he will drop a ball at my feet and run off to get ahead of the next throw, but if I tell him to fetch something he delivers it at heal and won't release until I tell him to. They are different things to me.

orhunter wrote:There are play toys and work toys. As long as the dog knows the difference, I don't see a problem. If at any time you think it's turning into obsessive/compulsive behavior, stop doing it altogether.

+1. You never let the dog play with training bumpers or dummies, toys are great. One caution: NO SQUEAKY TOYS!. If he has squeaky toys, take out the squeaker of put holes in them with a knitting needle. Do NOT let them squeak the toy! This is one thing that CAN result in hard mouth in a dog.

What's your end goal? A meat dog that spits them out at your feet? NSTRA or NAVHDA where it has to retrieve to hand? Enjoying playing fetch with the dog in the yard?

None of them are wrong answers, but they should be considered in how you proceed. For example, my friend has a great GWP that holds an excellent point and is a great retriever and searches for cripples with a great intensity. He hasn't been force fetched and might be considered "sloppy" in that he'll drop the bird to shake then take it back and drop it at your feet. But, he does everything he's asked, and while a finished retrieve is "prettier" and better were he to compete, it isn't any more functional.

JONOV wrote:What's your end goal? A meat dog that spits them out at your feet? NSTRA or NAVHDA where it has to retrieve to hand? Enjoying playing fetch with the dog in the yard?

If the dog just gets the bird to me in good condition I'll take it but I can see myself expecting him to put it in my hand. I have yet to have him fetch the frozen bird or his pheasant feather toy without a CC, I have wanted to make sure that anything he fetches comes back without fail. The frozen birds have only been used to start the gun process, we have completed the 22 caliber so far although I did use the birds for a few fetches and dead bird finds when they were fresh but mostly his fetching has been done with a pheasant feather wrapped canvas dummy.I think the thought of fetching stuff in the yard is more for the dogs enjoyment, it's just something he wants to do, I just don't want play fetching to negatively effect the way he fetches birds.

As for SQUEAKY TOYS, I guess I have done jacked that up big time! he has had these from the word go and I am guilty of squeaking them with him, everything he has squeaks. Now that I have heard the reasoning I get it!! besides disabling the toys how do you reverse the possible hard mouth which I am not sure he has but I am am in for trying to avoid it from going any further.

mrelite wrote:As for SQUEAKY TOYS, I guess I have done jacked that up big time! he has had these from the word go and I am guilty of squeaking them with him, everything he has squeaks. Now that I have heard the reasoning I get it!! besides disabling the toys how do you reverse the possible hard mouth which I am not sure he has but I am am in for trying to avoid it from going any further.

It is corrected with a force fetch or simply force hold. Unless he is mouthy with all of his birds, don't worry about it unless an actual problem starts.